A modern office space typically has multiple general purpose power outlets (GPOs) available to supply mains power to all manner of office equipment. Such office equipment may include, for example, computers, monitors, laptop docking stations, printers, scanners, modems, routers, charging stations, and the like. Each desk, office, cubicle, or workstation in an office space is typically associated with a set of one or more GPOs to power a set of devices associated with an individual worker.
A fairly recent trend is the concept of hot-desking, whereby workers are not assigned individual desks or workstations on a permanent or semi-permanent basis. Instead, desks or workstations are allocated on a daily basis, through first-come, first-served or through a booking system.
Such hot-desking implementations can help a business to save on real estate costs and power costs, particularly for those businesses in which it is common for some percentage of the staff to be out of the office on a regular basis. In such circumstances, the business does not need to provide real estate and other facilities based on the maximum number of staff, but rather can provide real estate and other facilities based on the maximum number of staff expected to attend a worksite on any given day.
The amount of electronic office equipment has increased significantly over the years, from a simple desktop computer with a single monitor to a desktop computer with multiple monitors, laptop computers, tablet computing devices, smartphones, and the like. Each of these electronic devices typically requires access to mains power supply for some or all of the working day. As the number of electronic devices has increased, so too have the power costs for businesses. However, the power loads, and resultant costs, are typically not distributed evenly across all workers and worksites.